Sweet Surprise
by WillowDryad
Summary: What could be sweeter on Sweethearts' Day than an unexpected treat? A Peter and Linnet Story. Golden Age.


**Disclaimer: Lucy, Edmund and Peter Pevensie and all the characters and situations in the Chronicles of Narnia belong to C. S. Lewis and not to me.**

SWEET SURPRISE

"Happy Sweethearts' Day, King Peter! Happy Sweethearts' Day, Lady Linnet!"

Peter smiled as he looked up at the trio of little Birds darting around his head. "Thank you, Purl."

"Thank you, Chip and Tweedle," Linnet said, squeezing Peter's hand. "Happy Sweethearts' Day to you, too. What have you got there?"

"A present!" Tweedle chirped. "A present for you!"

"And for the High King!" Purl added. "Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

With a wink at Linnet, Peter did as he was asked, and then he felt something drop into his outstretched palm.

"Look! Look!" Chip peeped. "It's for you! It's for you!"

Peter opened his eyes and then grinned. "A chocolate heart. Thank you."

The chocolate was rich and creamy, absolutely perfect.

"Oooh." Linnet popped her candy into her mouth. "Delicious. Thank you very much." She looked up at Peter, her lovely eyes shining. "Is Narnia such a wondrous place that even the Birds are sweets makers? Or do your chocolates grow on trees?"

"I have never found it," Peter admitted, "but I have heard tell that there is a tree here that grows fruits that are amazingly like toffee. The Birds, however, do not make chocolates. We leave that to the confectioners in Terebinthia. They're the best in all the lands, though I haven't had any in ages." He held out his free hand, and Purl perched on his finger. "And where did you come by this special treat, little one? Have you been visiting the islands?"

Purl fluttered her wings and blinked prettily at him. "No, no, High King. It is a special treat for you."

"For you!" her brothers repeated, swooping and chirruping. "For Sweethearts' Day! For Sweethearts' Day!"

"Thank you." Peter touched his lips to Purl's little feathered head. "And who gave it to you?"

"King Edmund," she cooed. "But since you and Lady Linnet are sweethearts, we thought you should have some, too."

"I see." Peter gave her a little boost back into the air and then squeezed his arm around Linnet's waist. "Well, we're certainly sweethearts, but where did he get them?"

"We don't know," Chip said.

"But we can ask him," Tweedle added. "We can ask him. He's in the grove near the stream."

Peter raised one eyebrow and looked at Linnet. "Shall we go see what my brother is up to? It's not like the biggest cynic in Narnia to suddenly be giving out candy. Not for Sweethearts' Day."

"He's not a cynic," Linnet said, laughing softly.

"He's not?" Peter asked in mock astonishment.

"He's got a very tender heart," she said. "He just keeps it well hidden."

"You may be right there," he said, squeezing her a little closer. "Though he still thinks girls are suspect."

"Just you wait," she told him wisely. "He'll meet the right one and change his mind soon enough."

"True," Peter said, and then his eyes widened. "You don't suppose he's met someone now, do you?"

Linnet giggled. "In the last half hour? I doubt it."

"Maybe we'd better go find him."

"This way, High King!" the Birds peeped. "This way!"

They swooped into the trees and, hand in hand, Peter and Linnet scampered after them. They found no one in the grove by the stream, but Tweedle quickly spied Edmund along the path just beyond.

"How much of this did you eat?" he was asking Romulus, holding out a good-sized bag.

The Wolf shook his head. "Just a few, King Edmund. I gave some to some Foxes and one to a Squirrel called Pipkin."

"It's nearly empty," Edmund said. "Some Foxes and one Squirrel couldn't have eaten this much."

"There wasn't much in it," Romulus said. "Not when Remus gave it to me."

"There you are," Peter said as he and Linnet reached them.

Edmund frowned. "What are you two doing here?"

"The Birds brought us a present," Linnet said, fighting a smile.

"And we thought we'd better find out why you were giving out Sweethearts' Day candy," Peter added.

"Well, I did give some to the Birds, just to get them to pipe down for a minute or two," Edmund admitted. "I didn't think they'd share them with you."

"Peter thought perhaps you had fallen in love," Linnet told him. "Have you met someone at last?"

Edmund glared at Peter and then looked haughtily at Linnet. "I'm not such a ninny as you two, if that's what you want to know. I'm quite happy as a bachelor, thank you very much."

"Just you wait," Linnet said, and her eyes sparkled with mischief. "The more they protest, the harder they fall."

Edmund snorted. "I leave all that silly stuff to Peter and Susan."

"Not Lucy?" Linnet asked.

"Lucy's got a sensible head on her shoulders."

Peter nodded. "She does. That's one sister we don't have to worry about."

Linnet's smirk was somehow disconcerting, but Peter was more interested in where the gourmet Terebinthian chocolates had come from.

"You said Remus gave you this, Romulus?"

The Wolf looked at him with eager yellow eyes. "Yes, King Peter. I don't know how much he ate, but he said I could have the rest."

"And where did _he_ get it?"

"I don't know. Should we go ask him? I can find him for you! I can find him!"

Before Peter could respond, the Wolf bolted into the forest. They soon found Romulus' brother Remus lolling in the grass at the edge of the high bluff that looked over the sea.

"Here he is," Romulus panted with the helpful Birds chirping and chattering overhead. "Get up, you great pup. King Peter and King Edmund are here."

The other Wolf gave a little whine and got to his feet. He didn't look at all the thing.

Edmund frowned at him and held out the bag that had evidently once been full of chocolates. "Did you eat all of these?"

The Wolf ducked his head, still looking up at Edmund. "Not– not _all_ of them, King Edmund." He darted a glance at his brother. "And I am not a pup."

Linnet knelt in the grass beside him, stroking his furry head with both hands. "Silly thing," she said, sympathy and amusement both in her expression. "A great big grownup Wolf like you should know better. Does your tummy ache very much?"

Remus' chin quivered and he hiccuped.

"Where," Edmund asked very sternly, "did you get this?"

Remus sunk down, his round belly on the ground now and his yellow eyes large and sorrowful. "I didn't mean to eat so much. I only did it on accident."

"On accident?"

"Well, I was waiting, and I just meant to have a piece. I didn't think he'd mind. And then I had another one, because, well, I was still waiting, and I gave some to the Bunnies and a few to the Coyote pups and the Badgers. And I had just a few more. And then Romulus came to see where I was and I gave the rest to him."

"I only had five," Romulus said virtuously.

"But who were you waiting for?" Peter asked. "Who did you think wouldn't mind?"

"So that's where those got to." Darreth, the young Terebinthian Duke, strode towards them from the direction of the overlook. He smiled tentatively and made an awkward bow. "I beg your pardon, King Edmund. King Peter. Lady Linnet. I– I didn't expect to find you all here just now."

Peter smiled. He liked Darreth and was glad they were allies. "We were just wondering where the chocolates came from. I should have suspected you from the first since Terebinthia is known for them."

"Ah, yes," Darreth said with a glance over his shoulder, and then he looked at the almost-empty bag Edmund was holding. "I suppose you've all had some."

"They're delicious," Linnet said.

"Sorry about Remus getting into them." Edmund scowled. "I don't know what he's doing here anyway. He was supposed to be looking after–"

His dark eyes widened, and a peal of familiar laughter came from behind Darreth.

"He was looking after me," Lucy said, her eyes as blue and shining as the sea below them. "Even if he did eat my Sweethearts' Day candy."

Peter gaped at her, wondering vaguely if he looked as gobsmacked as Edmund did. He was sure he must. "You– yours?"

"Yes, mine," Lucy said pertly. "Whose else would it be? I should have known better than to leave it with Remus, but I didn't think Darreth and I would take such a long walk."

"Walk?" Edmund demanded, eyes narrowed.

"Yes, we had a lot to talk about."

"Talk?" Peter growled, doubling his fists.

"Yes, talk."

Lucy took her brothers each by an arm, and again there was that sweet, shining light in her eyes, the same earnest light that, Peter was certain, that scoundrel from Terebinthia was trying to conceal.

"You're both great numpties you know," she said, turning them toward the Cair. "And Darreth has been nothing but perfectly proper and perfectly sweet, so don't you try to terrorize him. Now come on before Susan sends a search party after us. It's time we were getting ready for tonight's ball."

Peter was unable to do more than blink as she released him and Edmund and slipped her hand into Darreth's.

"Race you," she said, and before he could reply, she disappeared into the trees.

With a grin and a helpless shrug, he sprinted after her.

Peter stood there for a moment, and then he looked at his brother. "Ed–"

"Oh, let them alone," Linnet said, her own eyes shining as Lucy's had been. "I think they're sweet."

"But she–" Peter protested. "And he's– he's–"

Linnet situated herself between Peter and Edmund as Lucy had done and started them walking. "Lucy's got a sensible head on her shoulders, remember? She's not going to do anything Aslan wouldn't like."

Edmund scowled at her. "Of course not."

"Besides," she added, "it's just Sweetheart's Day. He gave her some chocolates and a sapphire bracelet, not an engagement ring."

Peter pulled up short. "Bracelet?"

"He gave her a bracelet?" Edmund demanded.

Linnet gave them a mischievous grin. "Didn't you notice?"

Peter and Edmund looked at each other, and then, pulling free of Linnet, they darted into the trees.

"Lucy! Lucy, come back here! Darreth!"

 **Author's Note: As always, the Wolves Romulus and Remus belong to Lady Alambiel. She's also the one who requested a Sweethearts' Day story, and I'm so glad she did. Otherwise, I would have missed it.**

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– **WD**


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